Lessons I’ve Learned from Being in a Large Family

I’m at home for Christmas Break after my first semester of college. Admittedly, this break has had its downsides. But throughit all,we’ve been family. This is the Feast of the Holy Family (read the first paragraph), so I think it’s fitting I write about my family. I come from a pretty large one. There’s 10 of us. My parents, plus four girls (including myself) and four boys.

Yep. 8 kids. 🙂

So here’s 8 things I’ve learned in this crazy, large family of mine:

1) Silence is golden, but who wants the Midas touch anyways? Sure silence is good, but to me it’s not the sound of affection. People talk, they laugh, children shriek with delight. I like quiet, a little peace. But a home is a place for conversation, giggles, and children playing…at least most of the time.

2) How to change a diaper. No joke. It could be very useful in the future too. It’s just one of those simple, practical things that not everyone gets to learn when they’re young. But I was 12 when my sister was born, so I got firsthand experience.

3) There is a monster in the dryer. His name is Steve and he eats socks. He has a buddy who likes to steal shoes right when they’re needed most. Whatever can go wrong, just might.

4) “Family size” is a misnomer. Honestly, there’s no such thing as “family size” because there is no such thing as the “ideal family size”. There may be what the parents want or what the societal norm is, but the “ideal family size” varies from family to family. Also, a “serving size” does not feed most people, especially not teenage boys.

5) Frugality. Nuff said.

6) How to wash dishes by hand. After our dishwasher broke many years ago my mom discovered less dishes got left on the counter if everything was washed by hand. There was no “next load” to put them in, after all. Needless to say, the dishwasher has never been fixed. Now, this doesn’t strictly have to do with our being a large family, but since we are there are a lot of dishes.

7) Love. If there’s one thing a family teaches, it’s how to love. We’re not perfect. Yeah, we yell at each other. But, in most cases, we get over it. That’s what love is: continued loyalty despite it all, wanting the other’s good above your own no matter what they do.